Things Will Turn Out Fine
by Katou Michinzu
Summary: It was both terrifying and comforting to know that he's been through worse. That he always got himself in trouble, attracted all kinds of people to fight, and encountered several near deaths. Yet he never worried for himself, and she found it both irritating and concerning. Written for TheBlueSheep from a writing prompt on tumblr!


****A/N:**** Takes place after a serious arc because injured Gintoki is always a good thing. Definitely. Post-GinTsu.**  
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****« x »****

**Things Will Turn Out Fine**

"H-Hey! W-Watch it. That hurts, you know!" he complains, gritting his teeth as watches her wrap the white roll of bandages around his abdomen.

She ignores this, and instead continues with the binding, adding more force than necessary as she tightens the wrapping. He lets out a pained groan.

"Ah, sorry."

He opens his eyes as he turns to glare, noticing the small grin on her face.

"You're not! You're obviously not! What's your problem?"

She shrugs, ignoring his stare again. She motions for him to sit straight and he quietly obeys. He has a gash across his stomach, ending on his side with a deep wound. His head was covered in bandages from being smashed against the ground. Scrapes and bruises covered him all over, yet none as major as the former ones.

Looking up she looks at him straight in the eye. He simply stares back with a confused expression as he frowns.

"What?"

It was both terrifying and comforting to know that he's been through worse. That he always got himself in trouble, attracted all kinds of people to fight, encountered several near deaths.

"Nothing. Just wondering how ya can still stay alive after all those hits you took." she finishes the binding and releases a sigh of relief. None of his wounds seemed to have opened up.

He hums, his mouth turning up at the corners teasingly.

"No need to get worried, I'm fine."

She nods, in a rather absent minded way as she feigns a smile. She was looking down with a sorrowful expression when a hand lifts her chin up for her lavender eyes to meet crimson ones.

He has a blank look. A blank look, seeming as he was lost in thought. His hand slides up to her cheek, his thumb trailing over the scars she never lets anyone touch but him as she closes her eyes. It was peaceful. The solemn atmosphere makes her forget that the rowdy streets of Yoshiwara was actually outside, the chill of the nightly breeze was relaxing. It made her wish that she could stay this way for all eternity.

It was after a while that he finally speaks.

"It's not like I'm the only one getting into trouble." he says in a hushed whisper.

He removes the blood-soaked bandages off the side of her face. As he does he remarks on how come she hasn't renewed it yet, since it was the one used eversince she received that bruise. Gintoki takes a roll of bandages from her hand as he tends to her next.

She was going to answer back and tell him she doesn't have it as bad as him. That he was in the brink of death, collapsing to the ground as he almost lost consciousness. But instead she keeps quiet and watches him.

She mumbles a thank you before telling him to go to sleep. It was a long day and he barely had any rest.

**« x »**

Everything felt numb for some reason.

It wasn't a foreign feeling. Instead of relief washing over him after everything that had happened, it was dread. He didn't feel particularly happy after they won one or two battles during the war for too long. Lives were lost on each one and they haven't won the war yet at the time. And they never did.

It is the same now. Sure, for the first few times it felt great. But then later comes in the realization of everything. Pain, resentment, guilt. So much was lost before they got here, so many patriots' precious lives, gone.

Fear takes over, and it begs the question of what could be next.

Gintoki isn't a strong samurai nor an admirable one either. He fights, he cheats, he escapes, all for survival because there's no such thing as rules in a battle for life and death.

He fights to protect. Telling himself over and over to focus on breathing, fighting and reading the opponent's moves. To forget the pain and to just tend to it later after the fight because worrying about it would only add to as a nuisance during battles.

He wakes up quietly, opening his eyes only to see of where he actually is after a dreamless nap. For a moment he is confused that he isn't just in some random campsite or a temple rather than one of the buildings of Yoshiwara.

He sits up and that's when he feels a twitch of pain coming over him. His lower abdomen feels like dead weight to carry, his head buzzing from the aftermath of almost having been crushed, and a sense of numbness through it all.

He holds to his stomach as he grits his teeth, panting and sweating. Then just like that, he got lost in thought.

He almost died again though it was something else that bothered him. The sword lunged towards Shinpachi had hit him for pushing him out of the away from the asshole who did it. With that he collapsed to the ground and the screams he heard were ringing in his ears, the traumatized expressions written on their faces were the last sight he had seen. The next thing he knew, he struggled to get up and fought again.

And the yorozuya were there to see it all right in the face of danger. He really wished he got them to leave just in time for them not to do so. They didn't deserve to see and go through this.

Sometimes he looks to his surroundings with blank eyes as he wonders of how he got through all this shit and how some friends would not. Of why he was always faced with these burdens he finds hard to carry over his shoulder with such grief instead of irritation.

He falls back down on the futon, closing his eyes to go back to sleep, not feeling very good. In a flash he sees bloodshed and he tightens his hands into fists, tempted to hit the floor with all the strength he has.

He disregards it and pulls the blanket over him.

He was in Yoshiwara but it's oddly quiet. He supposes it was a benefit of staying over in one of the buildings that the previous King of the Night had lived in. Though it was too quiet. It was deafening.

**« x »**

She barely had any rest herself, no matter how hard she tried to fall asleep. No matter how hard she wanted to close her eyes for a quick rest, though she couldn't sleep.

So she decides to check up on him. She slides the door open, only to see him awake, sitting as he leans against the wall. He was silent, shaking as his head was placed against his knees, his arms wrapped around himself.

He doesn't look up. Hell, he probably haven't noticed her coming in the first place.

"Gintoki?" she speaks out.

He doesn't respond. After a while he moves his head in a way he could see her. In a deep and quiet voice he says, "I'm tired."

"Of what?"

She strolls over to him, crouching down in front of him. Her hand reaches to the slightly blood-soaked bandages binded over his head, his curly locks of silver hair soft to the touch as it covers most of his forehead.

"A lot of people are after my head."

Not knowing what to say, she nods.

"I've got a big brother set out to kill me, a short kid who always did get pissed off at me, along with some forces after me."

She nods as she checks his injuries.

"I've almost gotten killed just a few hours ago."

She frowns, not knowing of what to say or do.

"They almost died."

She stops, bites her lip, before glancing up to him in worry. He has that same unreadable expression.

They, the yorozuya, almost died if it wasn't for him risking his life. The yorozuya who were alright and outside, eating and talking as if nothing had happened. The ones who wanted to go visit their perm-cursed leader but not going to, yet, because they had just woken up, knowing that he was still asleep. The ones who were just planning to go visit him.

"They're alright now." she tries for consolation.

"No one can tell when shit's really going down and I might break my promise again, huh?" It looks as if he was talking to himself.

_What promise?_

She opens her mouth to ask but stops once she sees that smile. That same, stupid smile he makes whenever it's a forced one. A fucking broken smile.

She doesn't know what to say. Actually, what the hell could she say?

She wishes that he can have a smoke right now. To bring her kiseru out and blow a stream of smoke to think. But she doesn't have it with her and now's not the right time. Instead she takes a deep breath.

She looks at him straight in the eyes and says, "You're not going to break it."

For a moment his eyes flickered with hope, she thinks, before he replies, "Maybe."

Then that got her more concerned, and a bit mad. Mad at him for being an idiot. That he doesn't realize that it was because of him that the yorozuya hasn't lost one of their members in exchange for a slash across a stomach, a headache and several cuts and bruises.

"You'll keep it," She still wasn't sure on what exactly the promise was. He has never told her about it and she wasn't sure if he ever would. Though she had a thought on what it could be from all the things he's been saying lately. "I'm sure." she adds.

His hand reaches for hers, and he interlocks them together. With a small laugh he challenges her jokingly, "Heh. You sure about that?"

She finally smiles.

"Yeah."

She wraps her arms around him and pulls him in a tight hug, resting her head over his shoulder as he rests his on the top of her head.

"Everything's going to be fine."

**« x »**

**A/N:** Written for TheBlueSheep from a writing prompt on tumblr! It was a bit hard on thinking up of what scene could fit for the quote, "Everything's going to be fine." but I think it turned out alright. I was going to write a short scene but then that happened and I'm glad it did.


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